This invention relates to agents. Businesses need to adapt to many competitive pressures. For example, financial markets are increasingly demanding that companies use capital more efficiently; other businesses are seeking global playing fields to maintain growth and diversify risk; customers are demanding service as markets of one and forcing companies toward mass customization; and innovation cycles are continually accelerating.
These pressures on businesses are driving changes that have enormous implications for supply networks. For some companies, shrinking capital availability is forcing companies to streamline manufacturing and supply operations and build efficiencies, which are critical to the supply network. For other companies, information ubiquity is driving and facilitating globalization, which shrinks distances to markets and resources. The information ubiquity also requires levels of supply network visibility and collaboration that were not essential in traditional supply chains. Customers are armed with information about the real value of products, which is shrinking customer loyalty and requiring customer-service levels too expensive for companies that are unable to manage supply chain efficiencies. Finally, shrinkages in the time available to build and launch products are forcing companies to innovate at velocities far greater than before.
Ultimately, competitive pressures push profit margins lower. Product manufacturers must find ways to improve efficiency, thereby reducing costs, to survive in highly competitive markets. Supply chain efficiency plays a key role in improving margins and can be a determining factor in the success of manufacturers.
A supply chain is a network of facilities and distribution options that performs the functions of procuring materials, transforming the materials into semi-finished and finished products, and distributing the finished products to customers. Supply chain management (“SCM”) is a business policy that aims to improve all activities along the supply chain. SCM results in improved integration and visibility within individual companies, as well as flexibility across supply and demand environments. As a result, a company's competitive position is greatly enhanced by building supply networks that are more responsive than the current sequential supply chains.
SAP AG and SAP America, Inc. provide SCM solutions for product manufacturers to help them reach their goals. Some of the SCM solutions are based on the mySAP.com e-business platform. One of the building blocks of the e-business platform is the SAP R/3 component that provides enterprise resource planning functionality. The SAP R/3 product includes a Web Application Server (“Web AS”), an R/3 core, and various R/3 extensions. The SCM Extensions of R/3 provide various planning, coordination, execution, and optimization solutions that are associated with a supply chain.